A duffel bag full of fish

55 pounds of fillets in a duffel bag.



In the cooler.













And I have 14 fish at the processor getting smoked and turned into lox. I am going to buy a canner and start canning fish today.

43 fish total, probably 175-200 pounds total fillet weight.

Kenai, Round 2

So I am heading out for the second weekend of dip netting the Kenai. I will be going out on the boat with KTG and The Moefather tomorrow, then hitting the beach with Fito and Lizza on Saturday. Hopefully I will have gotten my fish and will merely be running/cleaning/advising/taking pictures/video rather than getting my gear on and getting into the water.

The forecast is partially cloudy, with highs in the 60s and wind. Saturday is mostly cloudy with scattered showers. We will see.

21 fish to go.

I got this shirt at B & J's in Anchorage this afternoon.



It says:

Fishes Fishies!

Back from the Kenai, ended up with 29 reds after a marathon weekend. Very tired, more words and a write up to come tomorrow. Here are some fish pictures.

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Fish and fillets

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Fish!

And I'm Off to Kenai

It is now 2:25 am, I just got up from my nap and finished loading the car, and I am off in 5 minutes. I am going to stop and get ice and coffee and then hit the road, in time to be at the Kenai for the 6 am opener. I think my setup is promising, but needs to be tested. Pictures and a report to follow.

Dipnetting is Here!!!

I am leaving for the Kenai to go dip netting tomorrow after work. I am very excited about this fact. I got a total of 28 reds last year and I am hoping to limit out this year. For those of you who do not know what a dip net is, I got one and it looks like this:



If you say "But Josh, I can't see how big it is", here it is leaning against my bike:



Another shot of it:



I am very excited to get it in the water. 25k fish through the Kenai and 19k through the Kasilof yesterday (that is very good).

For those of you who did not eat some part of my reds last year, here is what they looked like:



Kenai red sushi



Lox on cream cheese and crackers



Sushi Buffet



Fillet pre super bowl sushi



Super Bowl Sushi Spread




It was very tasty fish. I hope to learn to smoke and can fish this year, in addition to the kippered, the lox, and the salmon strips.

In any case, I am leaving late tomorrow and will be back sometime on Sunday.

HAHAHAHA

Marc, oh marc!

(h/t With Leather)

Live blogging an extra innings Detroit Tigers - Los Angeles Angels of Anahiem and Santa Barbra and Orange County and San Mateo game

[EDIT: The title of this blog changed in the 11th inning of the Tigers game, as I am now 4 and a half hours into this and the Tigers game is Fantastic!]

So there seems to be a lot going on. Going on at the same time today will be a Pistons Eastern Conference finals game versus the Celtics, a Red Wings Stanly Cup game against the Penguins, a Tigers game against the Angels, possibly some poker (I put $25 on stars last night and ran it up to $500 (plus $50 given to the Chinese relief effort, which is an awesome promotion by Stars)), and maybe even a BBQ later. All bets are off in the event that I get called away by some woman or another to go hang out.

4:13 - they show the Red Wings bench and the team is markedly less affected by the anthem than the crowd, particularly given the day. Much like Manu Ginobili mother's day comment, most of the Wings may be more in tune with the European counterparts to the anthem and remembrances.

4:18 - I call a push with K9 on the 5th hand of a tourney, vs qq. Flop is k9k. Sweet.

4:27 - BOOM! Brad Stuart drops it in. The Wings are like an octopus. They don't need two specific tentacles to do all the lifting, as long and some of the other 6 (doesn't matter which) grab something, they are ok.

4:29 - 9 minutes in, the shots are Wings 6, Guins 0.

4:34 - Sheed Says Get Out Ya Seats! Let's Go! I get out ma seat and get amped. JJ v 66. The Ampage continues. I love the final countdown music, just like when they used to introduce Joe D. and the gang.

4:37 - I'm going to propose to my boss that we dance in a "hype it up" circle every morning so that I can start each work day by doing the Sheed dance.

4:39 - I am probably going to be watching more Pistons than Wings for a couple of reasons. First, the Wings are already up 2-0 in the first adn I have seen nothing from the Penguins that makes me think the trend will change. I am much more worried about Detroit (which is now up 8-0, sweet) and I get ESPN (and thus the Pistons game) in HD, but do not get versus in HD. (Tigers to come on the computer). If you are looking for a more detailed live blog of the Wings Game, I suggest you follow Joe over at Behind The Jersey

4:46 - Please Tay, DUNK! Boston gets on the board. 10-2 Stones.

4:55 - I check the lineup and see Shef hitting 3rd and Guillen hitting 6th. I don't like this. Then again, this means that we have Guillen, Joyce, Rentaria hitting 6-8, which is pretty sweet.

5:04 - Maxiell lays the Smack Down on Garnett. Big Block with two and change to go in the 1st. 20-10

5:07 - I push with 3 high and the idiot flush draw, get called by a shorty with tp. River my idiot flush to knock him out in 28th.

5:11 - Sheed sticks his hand out and doesn't let big baby off the ground, much as a big brother might do to a little brother. Still, Celtics got it down to 22-17 after the first quarter.

5:15 - First break in the tourney. I am 7/21 and about to be in the money, wings are 2-0, pistons at 22-17, about to set up the tigers game.

5:20 - I turn on the Tigers game in time to see Carlos whiff on a grounder in X-Mo vision.

5:24 - whee, itm at 6/18. Vlad gets doubled up the end the 1st. Pistons have stretched it to 33-19. Wings still up 2-0.

5:28 - I am rooting for the 6-8 Power Pack to produce and carry the team tonight. First up: Carlos .... Doubles off the wall in right center. Joyce to the plate. Carlos tags on a fly ball to right center and comes in safe. Very Aggressive.

5:30 - I run 97 into KK and go out 13th.

5:31 - Rentaria sloooow rolls a ball to the left side. Carlos does not go. Edgar out a first. Should have been a run.

5:33 - Is the block Sheed is working on the same block Jenny is from? And the Tigers turn a man on 2nd, no one out into nothing, thanks to a virus that innables them to hit with runners in scoring position.

5:40 - Polanco gets the lead runner and Sid the Kid goes to the box. Wings 2-0 at the 2nd intermission. Rogers hits Angels Catcher 2b. First and Second with one out.

5:48 - Granderson goes back and catches a ball hit to the warning track in center. First Half Ends with Pistons Up 43-39.

5:54 - Shef pulls up lame on the way to first, holding his side/back/ribs area. MMMmMMMMmmMMMm, ribs. I need to order or find some food. I did not think I would be hungry after eating for several hours at the bbq I attended, but I am.

5:57 - J9 v AA v 66 on a floppalicious flop of 1087. 3300 early on. Give some back with aj v kq the next hand. AKs the very next hand.

5:59 - Cabrera circuses a routine foul ball.

6:07 - Big and Mig hit and run and have runners at 1st and 3rd, none out.

6:16 - And the Tigers turn first and third with none out into NO RUNS.
Pistons up 51-43.
Wings up 2-0.

6:28 - Thames steps into the on-deck circle. Shef out.
Pistons 59-48
Wings 3-0 (Missed the Goal)
From BTJ:
11:12 - GOAL DETROIT: Filppula (5) from Franzen and Stuart. Wow! Filppula was getting beaten up as he skated towards the net, Letang was all over him, Filppula dives and still gets off a magnificent shot past Fleury. It remains 4-on-4.

Guess those second line scoring worries are taking care of themselves.

6:34 - Sweet. Versus shows a shot of a Wings Jersey on one of the Tigers in front of Comerica. Anyone have any pictures of this?

6:39 - Rayburn for Sheff.

6:42 - someone takes a shot at Ozzy with less than a minute and a half to go and a scrum erupts. Paval throws many punches. Someone named Orpik (who?) is talking lots of smack.

6:45 - a graphic for the Pens lines shows "shots" and "chances". No need to show actual stats like points or +/- or anything. Oh Yeah.

6:47 - Wings win 3-0 to take a 2-0 win with a much larger edge in awesomeness, particularly considering what Sid looks like not clean shaven.

6:49 - with RISP: Tigers 0-7, Angels 0-6. What is the opposite of clutch? Brake? These teams are brake with men on base. Sounds about right.

6:55 - I put my Trammell jersey on for good luck. 0-0 in the top of the 7th. Pistons up 72-65. Sheed in foul trouble.

7:06 - Rip blocks Posey from behind, then goes the other way for a layup.

7:15 - Carlos bobbles a grounder to put runners on 1st and second with one out. He has walked himself into two in between hops for no apparent reason.

7:20 - Kenny gets through 7, going to the 8th 0-0. Pistons up by 8 with 2:30 to go.

7:23 - Grandy doubles leading off the 8th. Garland is still in the game. I doubt we will see Kenny back in this game. Polanco bunts successfully. Grandy to 3rd. Scoscia pulls Garland.

7:28 - the aisle 5 crew comes in to finish it out. Final score is 94-75. Rip was rippin. Now if only the Tigers could hit a fly ball.

7:30 - Rayburn strikes out. He is very brake. Its up to the big tilde. The Big Tilde is also brake this evening.

7:35 - Zach Miner. I am swiss about this decision. Vlad doubles on a bloop to right with one out. Hunter walks. Anderson to the plate.

7:45 - Angels backup catcher 2b gets the count to 3-0 with 2 out. Kotchman on deck. Bases loaded, 2 out. Kotchman. Please don't let this be where the bullpen (which should be ZUMAYA, for gods sake) blows a gem by Rogers.

7:47 - Soft fly to Joyce in left. Miner loads em, but gets through the inning.

7:54 - Carlos walks. Joyce to the plate. AAAnnnd, Carlos gets thrown out at second by nappoli (formally random catcher 2b). Great tag by Macier Iztures. Joyce strikes out. Going to the bottom of the ninth.

7:59 - Miner out for a second inning. I am swiss about this as well. Fly to granderson, one out.

8:03 - the Big Tilde makes a catch against the fence. We Go To The Tenth!

8:07 - Edger leads off the 10th with a single to left. Renteria on a slider in the dirt. Nappolli loses one to the right. 2-2 on pudge with a runner on 2nd. And pudge strikes out. Granderson lines out to Vlad, who keeps Edger at second.

I go to make ravioli, Placido makes his way to first in my absence. Rayburn strikes out. Bottom of the 10th.

8:18 - Dolsi out for the 10th. I stir ravioli, there is one out and they are going out to check dolsi. Mathews chopped a ball into his chest. He survives to stay in the game.

8:25 - I come back from finishing the ravioli and there are two out and Hunter is on 2nd. Something shady, possibly involving Dolsi loafing on the mound, have lead to this. Leyland elects to walk Anderson, and Dolsi throws a JG:IOSTUJRIOKJ WILD PITCH. Hunter goes to third. They successfully complete the intentional walk without giving up any further bases. First and third and Napoli at the plate. Anderson takes 2nd on strike one. Nappoli chops out to the mig tilde and we got to the 11th.

8:35 - the tigers go 1-2-3 in the 11th. Onto the bottom of the 11th.

8:44 - firefox freezes, I come back and there are two out in the top of the 12th. We go to the bottom of the 12th.

8:50 - Iztures singles to right off Dolsi. Gary Matthews steps to the plate. Flies out. Vlad at the plate. Ground ball up the middle, runners at first and third with one out. Tori Hunter at the plate. Another intentional walk. This time, to the other side. They compete the walk. Bases loaded with one out. Anderson to the plate, Leyland is coming out and bringing in Seay.

8:58 - Seay to Anderson with the bases loaded. Anderson is 0-4 with a walk. The Tigers bring the outfield in because Iztures is some kind of speedy fellow, or so the commentators claim.

Two and oh on Anderson, who went way past halfway there. Another breaking ball drops off the plate. Three and zero to Anderson. Seay comes in and walks Anderson.

Summary of the Tigers Night: Bobby Seay is very brake. VERY BRAKE!

9:04 - So ends the four and a half hour day of Detroit Sports. We won the two playoff games, which is good, but the Tigers managed to turn a great set of pitching performances into a loss without anyone having anything near a clutch or hard hit. ANYONE. There were multiple points where a Tigers fly ball (A FLY BALL, as in SOMETHING hit to an OUTFIELDER) would have plated a run and avoided all the nonsense. Leyland still does not seem to know what is going on with the roles in the bullpen.

I am stepping away to get some air.

My crew got a whale!

May 11th, 27'6".



Co-Captains Herman (center, back row) and Jonas (right end, back row) once again proving worthy.

Go Team!

Disc golf and Roller Derby

A natural combination, no doubt. What follows is a recap of last Saturday. A couple notes before we get to the video madness. 1) I just got a memory card big enough to start playing with the video settings on my new camera (Casio Exilim) and the work so far is rough. 2) I am in the process of growing my hair out and it has reached "long enough to be annoying, but not quite long enough to fully fit into a ponytail". This is not an intentional style choice, but rather one of the (several) horrific stages between short and long. Anyway, onto the video and some shot analysis.

Peters Creek #6


This is only my 4th or 5th round of the year and both my form and my fitness are still working there. On my forehand shots, I am not fully closing my shoulder and, as a result, my shots are a bit too far to the right. This still turned out relatively well, but I should be in birdie range on every throw by midseason.

Peters Creek #9



As you can see, I am not getting anywhere near level on this shot. My right arm angle is way below where it should be and the disc came out high and sailing to the right. It turned out ok (about 9 feet to the right of the basket), but it is not where I would like it to be.

Peters Creek #11



As you can see from this shot, the disc goes straight down the middle of the trail before cutting to the right. Ideally it should be s-ing to the left side of the trail before cutting back. Once I am getting my shoulder closed all the way, it should s a bit more and get over to the left side. Again, a good result, as the shot ended up at the base of the hill below the basket.

Peters Creek #12



I purchased an Innova Star, with the hopes that it will become my backhand disc for left turning holes. This is an early shot and a definite work in progress. I think this will be good in the long run. I need to get my footwork on my approach worked out, as I have an over-exaggerated hitch out, followed by closing my shoulders too far at the start of my delivery.

Peters Creek #13



We call 13 "dotting the i" This is my buddy Moesepheus shooting. He got on a run in this round and dropped 5-6 good shots with this disc (the Predator, I believe, but I could be wrong). This shot landed about 3 feet past the basket. Great shot.

Peters Creek #18



This is one of the better shots I have thrown in the last year or so (despite looking like a schoolgirl while watching it fly). 18 is a fairly tight hole that breaks wide to the left, then cuts back straight at the end of the hole. Also, there is a line of trees to the left, with two breaks that go down to the creek. There is a landing area there, but it is below the hole and a tough approach. This shot went directly over the basket, about 3 feet above the top. It turned about to be not as good a result as I would have liked. Despite only going 10 feet past the basket, the shot was really not all that makable, as there is a dopr off about 8 feet past the hole. Thus, the disc ended up 7 feet below the hole. Still a good shot. I can usually throw the overstable hook, but I usually lose it to the left. This time I kept it level enough that it tailed back to the right at the end.

After we finished up the round, Moesepheus and I met up with KTG and some other friends to hit the Roller Derby, more specifically the Rage City Rollergirls. The evening turned out to be awesome! I did not have any expectations going into the evening (besides being told that the players came in all shapes and sizes), particularly considering I had never seen a roller derby and that I did not have the first clue about the Rules. Here is what it boils down to: Imagine that you have two football teams consisting of 4 lineman and a running back. The goal is to have your running back run past the other teams lineman as many times as possible. And you are all running the same direction. In a circle. On Skates. Thats pretty much it. Once you know that, it goes from a confusing tangle of women to a sport with some pretty cool strategies and neat things going on. Imagine football before you knew what the hell was going on. But with hot women in miniskirts on roller skates (whoever was rocking 1/2 tsp. was garnering some admirable comments from the beer garden). Anyway, here are a few jams from the second half.







The only downside to the event? The lack of seating in the beer garden. There were 4 rows of seats in the front, then one section of bleachers tucked in the corner. The other 200-300 people in the beer garden had to stand up. So everyone was ready to go as soon as the event was over because we had been standing on a concrete floor for two hours by the time it was over. Had there been somewhere to sit, it would have been 1000% better.

Overall a fun day. I think this is going to be a good season discing and that I am going to get my game to places where it has not been since I left Ann Arbor. And I will probably go back the next time the roller derby goes off in town.

Watching the Tigers is starting to feel like Watching the Lions

I have not posted as much Detroit Tigers material as I thought since I started blogging, mostly due to my inability to watch most games (being on Alaskan Standard Time, its generally 9:30-10 on the east coast by the time I get home from work). Also, there are many Tigers bloggers who do a much better job than I could, both due to their dedication and their ability to catch more games than I. Off the top of my head, Billfer at the Detroit Tigers Weblog, Samara at Roar of the Tigers, Kurt atMack Avenue Tigers , Ian atBless You Boys , Lee at Detroit Tiger Tales, Jerkwheat and crew at The Big Tilde, Andy at Mickey Tettleton's Memorial Overpass, Big Al at the Wayne Fontes Experience, and Blake at the Spot Starters generally do a more comprehensive and better job than anything I could do. (I am going to try and become an actual responsible blogger and post and have a blogroll and stuff, all of you who have come here once because I randomly commented on your blogs, I promise)

That having been said, I was posting a comment over at Mack Avenue Tigers after watching the last 3 innings of the latest debacle (Thank you, Big Tilde, for your patience in seeing ONE whole pitch before grounding into a double play with two on and none out in the eight, it took so much longer than just declaring to the ump that you were out) when I realized something.

For a while, mostly the second half of 2006, following the Tigers returned to the magical thing it was in my childhood, when I would watch the games on the couch next to my grandfathers big leather recliner in his basement or listening to the dulcet tones of Ernie Harwell over the radio. Following the Tigers was like following the Red Wings or the Pistons, like a team where you expected to win and if something bad happened, you knew that there was a comeback in play. Not that it always worked (see: tonights loss to the Stars), but it was not crazy to think that a comeback was possible.

This was blessed after craptacularity that 1997 (when tram, as bald as woody, had said goodbye and I lost interest as the completion of high school, my first love, and my freshman year at the University of Michigan and all it brought drew me away) to 2002 was. In 2003, I began law school and quickly made friends with Jason, a classmate who was as avid a Mets Fan as I a Tigers fan (he was also a Wisconsin grad, which is a whole different can of worms). As Jason can attest, my mantra beginning in 2003 was "Tigers in '08". I repeated this over and over as the Tigers soared to a historically bad season. Jason, as a good friend and fellow sports fanatic would do, stuck with me throughout the season, ribbing me when it wasn't too painful and not saying anything when it got to bad (at least he did through August, when the Mets season implosion was too much for him to bear and he swore off baseball for the year). All though the season, I got through the Mike Maroth and Steve Sparks starts by telling myself "Tigers in 08" "Tigers in 08". I even made it to three games at Yankee Stadium, including a very moving game on 9/11/03 (two quick tangential points: 1) this was in a streak of games in which the Tigers went 0-17 at games I attended between the last game I went to before my grandfather died and the unreal down 4-1 with none on and two out game against the Blue Jays and Halladay last fall which was my mom's first Tigers game and my sister's first major league baseball game ever and 2) there is a level of fandom even more depressing than bad, namely "irrelevant", which I first experienced in 2003 at Yankee Stadium when the Yankees didn't even bother to boo the team or cheer when the Yankees did anything, because it was given that they were going to win and the Tigers were not worth the time it took to boo or cheer. I'll take hated over indifferent any day).

2004 and 2005 showed signs of promise, as the team slowly and carefully started to improve, with some gambles that seemed iffy (Maggs signing was borderline at the time), but I stuck to my mantra, telling Jason "Tigers in 08, Tigers in '08" at every opportunity, touting Bondo as the next Rocket, and telling him that Illich was going to give the Pirates $5 million and 3 Little Caesar's franchises for Oliver Perez.

I finished law school and moved to Alaska at the beginning of 2006. I did not see as much of the Tigers, but I was excited for what I did see. The Tigers were good, we might have a shot good (as opposed to we might not lose 100 games good) and my email correspondence with various folks reflected this. I remember going through the Playoffs, getting taunting calls from all my Yankee fan friends and not being worried. Much like the Wings and Pistons, I expected the team to win, particularly when they steamrolled the A's (I was at the bar next to my office, jumping up and down in the middle of the afternoon when Maggs went deep to end the series).

2007 was disappointing in the sense that it did not end in a championship, but it was different than many seasons in the sense that the Tigers Mattered. In the "in the hunt till late in the summer" sense. No, we did not win it all, or make the playoffs, but there was progress. I was eager for the 2008 season. Then the trades happened. DD and the Pizza Man made it clear that they wanted to win NOW.

And now is now, and the Tigers have turned into the Lions. Miguel Cabrerra is here, playing the part of Shaun Rogers, more interested in where he will find the next rack of ribs than in using his immense talent to crush the souls of his opponents. Willis, playing the part of Kevin Jones, injured and ineffective, yet unwilling to adjust his style. Leyland, inexplicably making odd coaching moves, like pulling Nate earlier this week, or the weird Rapada-Dolsi sequence tonight. Now I expect them to lose. I expect things to go wrong. I could have called the Maggs dp, just like I could call any number of Joey-McMahon-Kitna interception, watching the team blow leads like the Lions D giving up Fareverrererrrvvvvvvree touchdowns.

So is this it? Has this Tigers team gone the way of the Lions and not the Wings and the Pistons? Can we expect to keep losing, keep blowing games, keep scoring 2 runs when the opposition scores 3, 3 when they score 4, and none when they score 1? I hope not. I have never been one to get too down due to sports (save bowl games and football games against OSU), but the Tigers are in danger of being horribly depressing. How long does Leyland have before making changes? Can Illich eat $80 million if Robertson/Bonderman/Willis continue to stink? Is this it? One great season, then overpaid disappointment? Have the Tigers really become the Lions?